


Come Hell or High Water

by ash_mcj



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Avengers - Freeform, Avengers Compound, Becoming a family, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Ex-Vengers, Exvengers, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Fluff and Humor, Harley Keener as Venom, Kick Addiction, Marijuana, Multi, No Vision, Parley, Revengers, Stony - Freeform, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, parkner, winteriron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25180153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_mcj/pseuds/ash_mcj
Summary: When a group of kids who call themselves "X-Force" show up from an apocalyptic future and force the Ex-Vengers and Revengers to move into the old Avengers Compound, chaos ensues.[That book you're looking for that combines all of your favorite heroes and forces them to work out their issues while living together and becoming a family. Oh, and their children have traveled back in time to kick their asses into shape in order to fix the future--or rather, ensure that there will be one at all.]
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie/Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton/Logan (X-Men), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Harley Keener/Peter Parker/Venom Symbiote, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Laura Kinney/Steve Rogers, Quentin Quire/Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Wanda Maximoff/Steve Rogers
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. back in the compound

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for clicking on this and taking this chaotic journey with me. Expect lots of laughs and emotions. Give me the first couple chapters just to introduce the characters a little and then we'll get into the good stuff.

Tony Stark felt almost as if he was on autopilot driving to the old Avengers Compound. He wasn’t sure why, but he had woken up that morning with a strong urge to go to the Compound for the first time in over a year, so he took it as a sign. He definitely wasn’t expecting to walk into some sort of reunion. 

“Hello, Tony... You look well.” Steve greeted, nodding towards him. 

“As opposed to how I looked when you left me for dead in Siberia after you buried your shield in my chest? I sure hope so, Cap.” Tony replied icily, barely glancing in his direction. “As much as I love this little get-together, why the hell are you all here?”

“Are we not allowed here?” Bruce asked, confusedly.

“What happened to the Avengers while we were off-world?” Thor questioned, looking between Steve and Tony. “When I left, you two seemed to be getting on well.”

“The Government wanted to control us and Tony and I had different views on how ethical and right that was.” Steve told him vaguely.

“You _would_ chock it up to that, Rogers. Leave out the fact that your buddy Wanda over there killed thousands of people, which is what prompted the Government's involvement in the first place--yet somehow it wasn't her fault? Leave it out just like you left out how your old war friend killed my parents and you two tag teamed me.”

“You would have killed him, Tony.”

“If I was going to kill him, he’d be dead.” Tony growled.

“I’m not as interested in the unresolved post-breakup tension as I am in why the fuck we’re all here.” Logan interrupted, bringing the attention back to the situation at hand. “I’m not even an Avenger and I had the urge to drive my ass all the way here. Why?”

“I, too, had an impulse that I needed to come immediately.” Thor answered. “Bruce said he felt the same, so we came."

“That would be us.” A new voice said from along the wall, getting everyone’s attention. He had a bright pink mohawk, brown eyes, and a pointed face. “It’s called telepathic influence.”

It took all of three seconds for the seasoned heroes to notice the eleven newcomers suddenly standing around the walls. They all jumped into defensive positions and drew their weapons at them.

“Who are you?” Steve asked them, using his Captain America voice in an attempt to intimidate them.

“Woah, woah, calm down.” A male in a red and blue morph-suit said, stepping towards Tony, who pointed one of his hand repulsors at his head.

“You’ve corralled us all here--what’s your game? You got somethin’ against heroes?” Logan asked, claws out and ready for a fight.

“We aren’t your enemies; stand down.” A girl said with a hard edge in her voice. She had a black visor over her eyes and her curly dark hair was shaved on the left side of her head.

“If you guys don’t start talking within the next ten seconds, I’m blasting web-head.” Tony threatened, moving his gauntlet closer to Spider-Man’s face.

“Do it, Old Man. You shoot our guy, we'll eat yours.” A boy with sandy-colored hair threatened, black sludge-like tendrils sliding over his skin to cover his body.

“Venom, _back off_.” The girl warned him, before turning her attention back to the heroes. “I’m Techno. We have a lot to talk about, but put your weapons away. We don’t have ours out--you have no reason to have yours. We don’t react well to threats, so I suggest standing down before shit hits the fan.”

“I’m target locked on Iron Man, if needed.” A voice from above them in the rafters said, causing the heroes to look around aimlessly.

“What is _wrong_ with you guys?” Spider-Man hissed, his hand coming up to his chest to tap the spider in the center. His suit quickly retracted from his body into bracelets and rings he was wearing. “We are _not_ here to fight the Avengers.”

“He pointed a repulser at ya--y'know Ven and I are protective, Sweetheart.” The sandy-haired boy shrugged, seemingly absorbing the black sludge into his body again.

“You guys are children.” Tony realized, deactivating his nanotech suit. The boy he'd threatened was maybe fifteen or sixteen with wild brown curls and large doe eyes and it made Tony's heart pinch that he'd even had a weapon pointed at him in the first place. 

“Okay, weapons down.” Steve instructed, which everyone listened to for some reason, despite not being the leader of them anymore. “Who are you?”

“Would you believe we walked into the wrong house and you left your front door unlocked?” Spider-Man tried. 

“Long story short, we’re here from an apocalyptic future and we’re going to make sure some things happen differently this time around.” A young blonde girl told them calmly.

“Bullshit--time travel isn’t real. Who are you really?” Tony insisted.

“You have an infinity stone around your neck.” Loki noticed, eyeing the amulet the girl wore. “I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m not dumb enough to argue with someone who wears an infinity stone as a necklace.”

“I don’t know what an infinity stone is, but I do know you haven’t answered who you are.”

“I already told you my name is Techno, and this is my team. We’re called X-Force.” Techno said, before pointing to a tall blonde girl in a green legging and crop top uniform holding a very familiar star shield. “This is my second in command: Off-Brand Capsicle.”

“Well--” The girl tried to interrupt, but Techno waved her off.

“Don’t worry, Crusader, I’ve got it. Anyway, we’re here because you guys fucked up on some major things and the future of the world is at stake. If we let you play everything out like you did, the world burns and is overrun by mutant and superhuman paranoia that kills _millions_ of men, women, and children within the next twenty years.”

“We’re here because the Avengers being broken up and unable to work together properly is one of the leading causes to their inability to properly protect the world. Also, I’m not the second in command--I’m actually the leader of X-Force. Techno is completely self-appointed.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve done so much more for this team than you. If anyone has the right to self-appoint, it’s me.” 

“Would you like me to take over?” The mohawk kid asked them with an exaggerated eye roll. “Looks like you guys are struggling, as per usual. My name is Quintavius Quire, AKA Kid Omega. I’m an omega-level telepath and telekinetic. We’ve broken every law of time by pulling our asses all the way back to your cave man times to make sure you don’t destroy the future, which you're all long dead in. Going into detail about how each of you die would be pointless because we’re here to make sure it doesn’t happen, so don't waste time by asking. So, we are all going to live in this compound together and we’re going to learn how to operate as one big happy team so we have a chance at a future.”

“You can’t just invite yourselves and everyone to live in my compound.” Tony said, trying to process everything that was being said. “You don’t even have proof to back up what you’re claiming, do you?”

“I can project my memories into your head of our future, if you want?” Quentin offered. 

“You could put anything in our heads, if you’re an omega-level telepath.” Logan reasoned.

“You’re right. So what proof are you guys looking for? Want to know the next president? I know that Captain America has a boner for Scarlet Witch, Black Widow likes chicks, and Thor and Dr. Banner have been hooking up. It’s going to come down to you having to trust us.” Quentin shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

“How did you know about…” Bruce asked, blushing.

“Wait, he’s right?!” Tony exclaimed. “Bruce, you’ve been boning the Thunder God?”

“Only a few times...I don’t…”

“You guys last until you die. It’s super cute.” Another girl with a similar eye visor to Techno said. “I’m Surge, by the way. I’m sorry nobody has introduced us, even though that’s literally the only thing you’ve even asked. I'm Techno's sister, that guy you almost shot is our brother Spider-Man, and the one who threatened to eat your friends is his boyfriend Venom. The girl in the rafters is Hawk, but she usually goes by Trickshot. It’s interchangeable and complicated. Her brother is Gambit. Then Kid Omega’s adoptive sisters are X-23 and Shadowcat.”

“And who might the sorceress be?” Loki asked, looking at the blonde girl with the Eye of Agamotto. “You appear young, yet your magic is quite powerful. I can feel you from here.”

“My name is Magik and I am Sorcerer Supreme of our future.”

“Magic? Sorcerer Supreme? Is this for real?” Clint Barton asked, amusement seeping through his voice. "I mean, what are you? Twelve?"

"I'm fourteen." She corrected.

“Wait, so let me get this straight.” Tony said. “You guys are knock-off Avengers from the future who teamed up with a wizard and have come to try to make us get along?”

“Not _try_ , we’re here to kick your asses into gear and force you to get past your differences before it costs the world everything.” Trickshot told them, dropping down from the ceiling by a device that was similar to a grappling hook.

"Let's say this is real." Steve proposed. "What does that mean exactly? We all just stay here and train together? We've tried that and it went up in flames."

"Yeah, and overwhelming lies and betrayal." Tony added.

"Can you focus on right now for a second, Tony? This could be serious. I _need_ you to take this seriously for once."

"And I _needed_ you, as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need? I need a drink and to go lay down, because I know that this is serious. I don't believe I ever remember telling you this...That what we _needed_ was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, _that's_ what we needed! I said we'd lose. You said, 'We'll do that together, too.' Guess what, Cap? Apparently, we do lose, and we aren't together on it. We're so _not_ together on it that there are literal time travelers in the living room, here to force us to get along." Tony ranted, stepping closer to Steve and looking up at him. "And don't you act like I'm supposed to get over what happened just because you want me to. You have _no_ right. I _trusted_ you and that blew up in my face--so the knowledge that now I need to forgive you and trust you enough to live with you again really rubs me the wrong way."

"Tony..." Steve whispered, but wasn't sure what else to say. He knew he needed to talk to him about it, but he didn't want to do it in front of everyone.

"Let's just take a breather for a second and then we'll figure out rooms and everything." Tony told everyone. "I'm getting a drink--I know I left some Scotch here. Anyone want one?"

"Yeah, I'll take one." The boy referred to as Venom said, following Tony towards the kitchen. The heroes left in the living room began talking in little groups, trying to wrap their heads around the situation.

"Are you even old enough to drink, Kid?" Tony asked him skeptically, holding a glass just out of his reach.

"Yeah, I'm twenty-one. Scout's Honor."

"You don't look like a Scout."

"Caught me red-handed." The younger man laughed, swiping the glass from his hand. "The name's Harley Keener, by the way. I'm assumin' the others are usin' their aliases so you don't recognize their surnames or somethin', but I don't got one you'd know."

"Can't say I know any Keeners. We'd know the others' though?"

"Some of 'em, but those aren't my secrets to tell ya." Harley told him.

"Where are you from? I thought your accent only existed in cheesy western movies."

"H-He's from Tennessee, but we stole him out of there years ago. Luckily, he k-kept the accent." Spider-Man told him from the doorway. His voice was light, but he looked at him with a level of emotion in his eyes that forced Tony to look away. It was somewhere between fondness and grief, and he couldn't help but wonder if this kid had possibly known him in the future.

"You're the Spidey kid, right? Interesting alias--you got some sort of spider fetish or something?" Tony asked him.

"N-No." Peter shook his head adamantly. "I'm a mutant with spider powers, so...m-my options were limited."

Tony nodded, pouring a little more Scotch into his glass. Hopefully he'd be ready to deal with the living room full of people once the alcohol was in his system.

***

"Alright, I hope you all survived in my absence. If not, I'm not reliable." Tony announced himself back into the crowd of heroes, followed close behind by Harley and Spidey. "We need to set up dorm rooms, right? There's twenty total in this compound--ten in each of the two housing wings. There are twenty-three of us, so three people will need a roommate."

"Bruce and I have been sharing our quarters for the better part of a year now, so we do not require separate rooms." Thor grinned, sending a wink at Bruce, who looked like he was wishing the Earth would open and swallow him.

"Harley and I can bunk together." Spidey offered.

"Theo and I can, as well." Crusader said.

"Theo is...?" Tony asked. "This whole alias thing is stupid. Can we just do first names, if you don't want to out your surnames? I'm not playing the Guess-Who game."

"I'm Theo." Techno clarified, then pointed to her partner and siblings. "Crusader is Sarah, Spidey is Peter, Surge is Morgan."

"And you and Sarah are a thing? How does that work with running a team together?"

"Constant fighting." Quentin revealed, earning a glare from both of the girls.

"We _aren't_ together." Sarah told Tony. "Our troubles running the team are a lot less about our complicated relationship and a lot more about our differing viewpoints. This will be a bonding experience for our team, as well."

"Since Theo only wanted to introduce _her_ family," Quentin said pointedly. "Venom is Harley, Gambit is Francis, Trickshot is Kate, X-23 is Laura, and Shadowcat is Kitty."

"Great, well I remember almost none of those names, so I'm going to have to ask you at least twelve more times over the next few days." Clint told them. "You know us already, or do we need to introduce ourselves?"

"We do know who you all are, but we should probably hang out tonight and maybe get to know each other a little more. We're all living together now, so we might as well." Sarah proposed.

"Gods, can we just focus on one thing at a time here? Rooms. Okay. My room is already set up in the first wing, so I guess the kids can all fill into the empty rooms. Logan, you can also take a room in that wing. Everyone else can be in the second wing."

"Why was I picked to share a hallway with the kids?" Logan grumbled.

"Don't you work at a school? How do you not like children when you work at a school?" Tony pointed out.

"I was roped into it by joining the X-Men."

"Alright, let's all just go claim rooms and chill for a bit, yeah?" Theo asked. "We can meet back here around five to talk about house rules and training schedules and everything."

"Genius plan." Tony agreed, turning towards the elevator. "See you all in three hours, I guess."


	2. pad tai and introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can power through this introduction chapter, I love you <3 It will stop being boring after this. I tried to make it as not-boring as possible.

By the time Tony made his way back down to the overly-crowded living room, everyone else was already waiting for him. His old teammates, Loki, and the Asgardian chick were seated on the 11-seat U-shaped sectional he had bought, while the kids had dragged stools and chairs in from the kitchen to sit on. Tony made a mental note to buy another gigantic couch to fit everyone--which he was pretty sure would end up looking horrible squished into the living room, but oh well.

“Why is it that nobody saved me a seat on my own couch?” Tony asked. He was old, damn it, he wasn’t going to just sit on the _floor_.

“You were the last one here.” Sam shrugged. “Make Bucky or Wanda scoot over to give you some room, since they’re on the ends.”

Each of the seats were fairly spacious--even for the extremely muscular group of heroes--so he decided that would work. He wasn’t that big, after all. He glanced over at Wanda, who was definitely making an effort not to make eye contact with him, and opted to walk over to Bucky.

“Scoot your boot, Terminator.” Tony told him, nudging the soldier’s shoe with his toe. Bucky looked up at him with his eyebrows raised. He probably wasn’t expecting Tony to pick sitting next to him, let alone touch him. He quickly moved a little closer to Steve and Tony plopped himself down beside him. Their shoulders were touching, since they were sharing a seat, but neither of the men acknowledged it.

“Okay, now that everyone’s here...should we start introductions a little more than speeding through names?” Steve proposed, looking over at the group of kids. “Maybe names, ages, powers--if you have any?”

“Geez, Bub, coulda bought us dinner before askin’ our whole life story.” Laura told him playfully. She was seated with her chair backwards and her arms crossed over the top of the back piece.

“Uh...I don’t…” Steve stammered, obviously thrown off by the insinuation. “I just figured it’d be a good idea to get to know each other, like Sarah said earlier.”

“Dinner is actually a good plan, though. I’m craving pad thai and cream cheese wontons. Everyone good with that?” Tony asked, taking his phone out of his pocket and opening a food delivery app.

“We don’t have a ton of money on us at the moment and what we do have, we need to get some clothes with. Mind if we pay you back when we have jobs?” Sarah asked him. He waved her off with a nod and the kids all grinned excitedly. They hadn’t eaten in a couple of days.

“Alright, so I know you said you know who we are, but just to make sure,” Steve started. “This is Tony, Bucky, Sam, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Loki,--and you are?”

“Brunnhilde, or Valkyrie.” She told them. She had white markings on her face that everyone assumed were probably some sort of paint, tanned skin, and black hair pulled up into a ponytail. Like all Asgardians, she was inhumanely beautiful and everyone definitely noticed.

“I just gotta say...I’ve only had the pleasure to meet you like once in the future and it’s a damn shame.” Theo said, noticeably checking her out. “Because you are ridiculously attractive and I could’ve used more blessings like you in life.”

“Not so bad yourself, Love.” Brunnhilde returned, a slight smile playing at her lips.

“You want to continue introducing everyone, Captain?” Sarah prompted, her voice hard and controlled as her eyes flitted between Brunnhilde and Theo.

“Next to Brunnhilde is Logan, then Clint and Wanda.” Steve finished. “So...your guys’ turn.”

“I guess I’ll go first, since I’m the oldest.” Harley raised his hand, volunteering. “I’m Harley Keener...I’m twenty-one. My old man worked for a terrorist organization called Hydra who somehow had gotten ahold of an alien symbiote from the planet Klyntar. Long story short, Hydra got mad, kidnapped me when I was twelve, and a bunch of shit happened and I got shot and almost died. Venom found me while they were tryin’ to escape the facility and bonded to me. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“Inseparable as in friends? Is it sentient?” Bruce asked curiously. “And you say ‘they’...are there multiple?”

“No, just one, but Venom doesn’t have a gender. Their race doesn’t have male or female. Basically they’re kinda both and neither at the same time. They can all get pregnant. And yeah, they’re sentient. They hang out in my head whenever they aren’t eatin’ people. They can’t live without a host and I have no self-preservation skills, so they keep me alive in return for keepin’ them in my body. They heal me and stuff. We’ve kinda become...something...over the years. I don’t know if I would say friends...it’s a unique kind of relationship that’s formed when something lives inside of you. Pete says we’re all in a love triangle.” Harley explained, earning extremely confused and concerned looks from the adults that weren’t used to their dynamic.

“That’s fascinating.” Bruce said, sitting on the edge of his feet. “So they’re capable of feeling things...romantically, I mean?”

Suddenly, black sludge shot out of Harley’s back and Venom’s neck craned around their host’s shoulder to look at the Avengers, who looked like they were about to collectively piss themselves. They smiled at them with their several rows of long fangs and large white eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yes, we are an alien--not a robot, small human. We have feelings. Peter is our favorite of your kind.” Venom told him, his long tongue darting out of his mouth as he spoke.

“Why am I not your favorite?” Harley asked, glaring at his symbiotic other half.

“You are stupid, Harley. If it was not for us, you would never have told Peter about our feelings for him. You are a pussy and you know it.”

“Why I outta kill you--”

“You’d never. Don’t make empty threats--it makes you look even more stupid than you already are.”

“Tell him, Ven. Put his cowboy ass in place!” Quentin cheered him on.

The Avengers still seemed to be trying to come to terms with Venom while watching their interaction with Harley, but Thor was grinning amusedly. He obviously liked this alien creature.

“I’ll move on while they have their lover’s quarrel.” Theo said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “My name is Theo and I’m twenty years old. I’m technopathic and technokinetic, hence the name Techno.”

"A lot of thought put into that name, huh?" Tony chuckled. “So, you can control machines?”

“It was one of my greater ideas. I took inspiration from your creative alias, Iron Man." She responded playfully. "As for the machines, yeah. My brain translates code into thoughts and feelings and vise versa to be able to communicate with them.”

“She spends more time with bots than humans. If you’ve got any robots or AIs, she's about to steal them.” Morgan joked.

“I get along better with machines than I do with people.” Theo shrugged.

“Tech is superior to humans, no doubt about it.” Tony agreed.

“I’m Sarah and I’m nineteen. I’m basically just strong and I can fly.”

“She’s already cooler than you, Cap. I vote for her to be on the Avengers instead. She already has a shield--I saw it earlier.” Tony pointed at her.

“I do.” Sarah confirmed, shooting a glare at Steve. “Having a shield doesn’t mean you’re a good hero, though. Right, Captain?”

“ _Sarah_.” Theo warned, reaching out to swat her leg and pin her with a hard look that clearly said _stop_.

“I’m Francis and I’m also nineteen.” Francis said, trying to move past the extremely awkward moment his teammate had just created. “I’m also called Gambit. I can charge objects and throw them...turns them into mini bombs, essentially. I typically use playing cards, because they can also slice.”

“By charge, he means he can take the potential energy in an object and convert it into kinetic energy through molecular acceleration.” Theo said, looking between Tony and Bruce as they would likely be the only ones to really understand.

“What she said.” Francis nodded. “I’m not the brains of our operation. I leave that to the St--to Theo, Pete, and Morgan. Quentin, too, sometimes.”

“We’ve got four geniuses on our team.” Sarah said proudly. “Gets us out of a lot of stuff.”

“Who’s the smartest and what’s your IQ?” Tony asked excitedly. “Mine is 270.”

“274” Theo smirked. “Last I checked, I mean. Maybe it’s risin since then--who knows. Don’t get too down, though...IQ tests aren’t really a clear indication of intelligence, right?”

Tony looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, before putting his hands up in surrender. “I’ll let you hold the crown for now. We can retest later.”

“Oh Gods; play nice, Tony.” Natasha shook her head, also looking between the two as if working something out in her mind. Theo glanced over at her, but couldn't quite read her expression.

There was a timid knock at the door and Tony, Theo, Peter, Harley, and Francis all quickly put their pointer fingers on their noses.

“Are you kidding me? You all have no right to call _me_ a child, when you act like this.” Kitty groaned, getting up from her chair and heading towards the door. “Don’t egg them on, Tony.”

Kitty came back a few seconds later with bags of food and set them on the large coffee table.

“Thanks for coverin’ us, Tony.” Harley told the billionaire. “We’ll go job huntin’ in the next couple days. How much do ya want for rent, anyways?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. Nobody’s ever asked me that before. Does this mean I can add ‘landlord’ to my list of specialties?” Tony joked, grabbing his food and putting it in his lap.

“The Avengers lived under your roof, used weapons and suits you made, ate your food, and never even paid you rent?” Kate asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’re a nicer person than me, Tony. I would’ve charged them for everything. They’re grown adults--they can get jobs.”

“We’ll pitch in this time around. I have some funds from my time in the war and the rest of them have some money in the bank as well. We’ll pull our weight financially.”

“Your time in the war?” Sarah scoffed. “You mean dancing around with show girls and being handed the title of Captain because you agreed to be experimented on? At least Bucky’s a real soldier.”

“I’m sorry--are you not the Captain America of the future? You’re nineteen--there’s no way you’ve gained any rank, either.” Sam defended his friend.

“I’m _not_ the Captain America of the future. My name is Crusader and I’ve never claimed to have any rank I haven’t earned.”

“Sarah, that’s _enough_. We’re getting off topic.” Theo said, pulling the attention back for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“Did I do something to you? You obviously hate me and I’m not sure what to do about that, since I haven’t done it yet.” Steve asked Sarah, ignoring Theo.

“We’re not opening that can of shit right now. I don’t want to have to reign Sarah in tonight.” Theo objected.

“Reign me in?” Sarah sneered, looking over at her. “I’m not your pet--I can handle myself.”

“My name is Quentin, I’m eighteen, and I also don’t want to have this conversation right now.” Quentin cut in. “I already told you guys that I’m a telepath and telekinetic.” 

“I’m Laura, or X-23. Eighteen years old. I have animalistic senses, a healing factor and these.” Laura said, putting her fists up and letting two adamantium claws slide out with a _snikt._ They retracted into her fists and she held up her feet to show the other two, one poking out of each shoe tip.

“Well, shit.” Logan breathed, leaning back against the couch cushions.

“Damn, Wolvie, your daughter has her claws in her _feet,_ too. She could kick and punch at the same time and be slicing and dicing all over the place.” Clint said. “That’s dope.”

“Are you?” Logan asked her.

“It’s complicated, but I mean...basically, I guess. Technically speaking, I’m your genetic twin. At least that’s what Morgan said about the test results.”

“I've thought a lot of things 'bout myself, but parent wasn't ever one of 'em.”

“You didn’t plan to or want to. Kitty adopted _you_ as her dad and you had no choice. Then Laura came and tried to kill you and you ended up adopting her, too.” Quentin explained.

“Then Quentin was an asshat and he spent enough detentions with you that you guys got close and you adopted him, too, when the school fell. Took him into hiding with Laura and I.” Kitty added.

“Xavier's Institute falls?”

“ _Everything_ falls.” Theo sighed.

“Every _one_ falls.” Illyana added grimly.

“Why do I even try to give orders?” Sarah asked herself. “I say we shouldn’t reveal our parentage because it could complicate things, and you guys blow it the _first_ day.”

“I don’t understand why it matters.” Laura grumbled.

“If we talk about our parentage, then our parents--who are obviously not together yet--might feel obligated to get together and it won’t happen naturally and everyone could end up not with their correct partners.” Illyana clarified. “Plus, we don’t need them trying to be parents right now--we need them to be heroes.”

“I’m Kate...Trickshot. I’m seventeen and I’m just a normal human, so no powers.”

“You’re Clint’s.” Natasha pointed out. “Trickshot is literally Clint’s brother and someone said earlier that you were called Hawk. Plus, you have his eyes.”

"You recognize my beautiful blue eyes?" Clint asked Natasha, putting his hand over his chest and wiping a fake tear from his eye. "I'm touched."

“There really aren’t that many names for people who have good aim.” Kate shrugged.

“She was going to go by Hawkeye, but her twin Nate also wanted the title. That’s why they were called the Hawks.” Kitty said.

“He’s gone, though, and I...I don’t want to be Hawkeye without him. So, I’m Trickshot.”

“If they don’t want to talk about their families, then that’s their decision. We shouldn’t keep trying to figure things out. It’s obviously not beneficial to the mission at hand.” Wanda said to her teammates, speaking for the first time since their arrival.

“I-I’m Peter. I’m seventeen and I’m a mutant, like my sisters. I’m basically sticky and have great senses.” Peter introduced himself lamely.

“Why do you talk about yourself so boringly?” Morgan asked him, shaking her head. “He’s actually really dope. Once we found out his mutant powers emerged, we ran a bunch of tests. He has crazy contortionist-level flexibility, near perfect reflexes, enhanced hearing, taste, and sight, along with a sixth sense kinda thing that alerts him to danger nearby. He can also climb walls and even walk on the ceiling! Not to mention the coolest part of him: he can lift up to twenty thousand pounds.”

“Yeah, you definitely need to work on your presentation skills, Kid.” Tony told Peter, who looked embarrassed.

“I feel like we’ve been doing introductions for ten years.” Theo complained, fidgeting with her fingernails.

“Me, too.” Morgan agreed. “I’m Morgan, AKA Surge. I’m a sixteen-year-old mutant with electrokinesis and electrogenesis.” 

Morgan cupped her hand lightly and electricity sparked from her fingertips and pooled into a ball hovering above her palm. She wasn’t wearing her blue visor, so everyone was able to see her eyes glow white as she looked down at the ball of electricity. As suddenly as it formed, it disappeared and her eyes returned to a warm brown that matched her hair color almost perfectly.

“Do tasers work on you?” Tony asked, earning a laugh from Theo.

“Don’t try it.” Theo recommended. “I tried that last year and she just absorbed the charge and tased me instead.”

“Noted.” Tony nodded.

“My name is Illyana and I have magical abilities, along with teleportation. My magic comes from a demon dimension called Limbo, so I can also turn into a demon form called Darkchylde, but I don’t do it very often. She can be hard to control when she’s out. I’m fourteen and--”

“What the shit?!” Tony jumped suddenly, pulling his legs up onto the couch with him and grabbing onto Bucky's sleeve without thinking. “Something just touched my leg.”

“Was it Bucky?” Steve suggested, looking at his friend, who also looked concerned and was examining the ground by his own legs.

“No, I felt it, too.” Bucky said.

“Did you guys bring a ghost into the compound?” Tony accused. “That wasn’t here before.”

“Wait...Lockheed?” Kitty asked warily. That was the only sometimes-invisible creature she was aware of. A cat-sized purple dragon materialized on the carpet and Kitty jumped to her feet and held her arms out. “Lockheed!”

Lockheed leaped into the air and flew over to Kitty, who caught him in her arms.

“The child has a pet dragon! How fantastic!” Thor clapped excitedly.

The dragon crawled up over her shoulder and to her other one, perching there with his tail wrapped around her neck lightly for balance. 

“He’s not my pet--he’s my best friend, besides Illyana. He’s an alien, and he can understand you.” Kitty corrected him. “Lockheed, I thought you were left behind? I didn’t see you when we got here.”

“Sssleeping.” The dragon responded, nuzzling the side of her face.

“Okay, so there’s two alien add-ons in your little group so far...any more?” Wanda asked.

“Venom and Lockheed are the only ones here.” Kitty shook her head. “Oh, and I’m Kitty Pryde. I’m fourteen and a mutant with intangibility. I think that’s everyone, right?”

“Yep.” Theo confirmed, popping the ‘P’.

“Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s talk about group training.” Sarah said, clapping her hands together once. “I think we should do Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8am for an hour. Then everyone will obviously be expected to work out on their own in the gym whenever they can.”

“So, who will be leading these training sessions?” Steve asked her.

“We can switch off, if you’d like. Theo and I have been leading trainings for a few years now. Logan can lead them, if he wants. He’s the one who trained all of us for the most part. You can take a stab at it.”

“It’s important that we all are very collaborative with training. We need communication, different fighting styles, different fighting partners.” Theo said. “Switching off would be a good idea. We can start our first session this Tuesday. You can take this first training, if you want, Cap.”

“Sure.” He nodded.

“I’m beat. Are we good here for the night?” Tony asked, discarding his empty food container back into the bag. Everyone followed suit, passing the bags around to refill with trash. After receiving a nod from Sarah, everyone began filing out of the living room and going up the stairs and into the elevator.

Tony was one of the last ones up the stairs and went to turn into the first housing wing towards his room, when he felt someone grab his elbow. He turned to find Bucky there and looked down at where he’d grabbed him, making the taller man retract his hand as if it were burned.

“Sorry, I just wanted to catch you before you went in your room.” Bucky apologized, wringing the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Can I...can I talk to you?”

“It looks like you can...you’re doing it right now, Barnes. Good job.”

“No,” Bucky said through a nervous chuckle. “I mean...about us. Well, I mean about our past. You know…”

“Not today.” Tony shook his head. “Honestly, I have a lot going on in my head between these kids and the team being around again...I don’t think it would be a good idea to talk about that right now.”

“Right, I understand.” Bucky nodded, taking a step back. “I’m sorry, I should’ve known it’d be a bad time.”

“No, I appreciate it, really. How about I come knock on your door sometime next week when things are a little more settled? I’ll bring wine.” Tony offered, trying to be friendly. He wasn’t necessarily mad at Bucky, but it was a touchy subject. He knew they needed to resolve their issues, but didn’t want to risk snapping at him and running the man off. He seemed skittish in a way Tony wasn’t sure how to approach.

“Um...I mean, I can’t really get drunk or anything on a bottle because of the serum, but...I like red.”

“I’ll bring red, then.” Tony nodded with a smile. “Goodnight.”

“G'night.” 

With that, they went their separate ways.


	3. it's a start

“I love Walmart.” Kitty sighed happily from inside the shopping cart that Illyana was pushing. “They have literally _everything_ you could possibly need.”

“This is true.” Illyana agreed, looking around.

“We’re going to be over there looking through some clothes, okay? Stick around nearby.” Morgan said to the younger girls, before she and Quentin left the aisle to wander through the clothing racks.

“That would look nice on you.” Quentin told her, pointing at a black floral-print dress.

“Eh, you’d look better on me, in my opinion.” She shrugged with a playful smile.

“Ms. Stark, are you flirting with me?”Quentin asked, feigning shock.

“It’s probable.” She confirmed, taking his hands in hers. “When do you think we should tell Theo about us?”

“I’m sure she knows--she keeps a pretty close eye on you and Peter.”

“Yeah, but I want to tell her, too...preferably sooner rather than later. It’s been four months.”

“Well, a lot’s going on right now. We _did_ just time travel. If she doesn’t already know, she might react badly because of stress.” Quentin reasoned. “I mean, I don’t blame her. Can you imagine dealing with someone like Sarah? She gets all worked up over everything.”

“She’s not who I pictured with Theo, but...I mean, that’s Theo’s disaster to deal with. Maybe being around more adults will make Sarah grow up.”

“She won’t. Steve is just like that. Stubborn and passionate over everything.”

“Passionate...that’s a good word.” Morgan laughed, reaching up on her toes to give him a fast peck on his lips. “I haven’t heard Sarah’s tantrums described as passionate before.”

“Well, it’s not an untrue use of the word.” Quentin shrugged, pulling away from her. “Kate’s coming.”

“What’s up, losers?” Kate greeted them as she walked up. She looked at the dress behind Morgan and grimaced. “That is the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I thought it was cute.” Quentin defended.

“You should wear it then, Q. It’d really bring out your beautiful eyes.” Kate joked, cupping his cheek playfully. He pushed her arm away from him and rolled his eyes.

“Why are you guys hiding in the dress section?” Theo asked, joining their little group with her arms full of clothes. “None of you even wear dresses. I had to search the cameras to find where you were.”

“Quentin was thinking about buying that dress.” Kate explained, pointing at the floral clothing on the rack.

“Oh, that’d look good on you.” Theo told him.

“I hate you people.” He mumbled.

“No, you don’t.” Theo told him. “We need to beg Tony and hope he lets us borrow some Stark-Phones, so we can get jobs.”

“Speaking of jobs, I just got one. I start Monday.” Kate said, earning shocked looks from her family. “It’s not my fault that none of you take initiative. There's a hiring sign on the door.”

“There you are! We’ve been looking all over the place.” Peter exclaimed, showing up with Harley and Francis in tow.

“Is Quentin dress shopping?” Harley asked, glancing at the clothes around them.

“I don’t wear dresses!”

***

Tony was in the lab working on updating his Iron Man armor, now that he’d be using it more frequently again, when he heard someone walk in.

“Hey, Tony.” Steve said, stopping a few feet away from the table he was at. “I think we should talk about some things to settle some of the bad blood between us.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Cap, I don’t really have an interest in talking things out so you can sleep better at night.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry that it happened or that it’s still affecting things now?”

“Ultron was right...when he said I can’t live without a war to fight.” Steve admitted, pulling up a chair and sitting across from Tony. “My whole life has been based on standing up to someone. Bullies, when I was a kid. Nazis, when I was barely an adult. It’s not something I realized until I went into hiding, but it’s true. When the Accords happened, I think I just jumped at another potential war--a _cause_ \--to fight.”

Tony put his suit piece down and sat back to look at Steve, but didn’t say anything. Steve could tell he was on guard by how hard his eyes looked. It made his stomach twist, knowing that those eyes used to shine warmly at him as they’d do their playful banter. They fought here and there, but it never put that light out towards him. Seeing it gone made him know that this probably wasn’t a fight they were going to recover from the same way.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you, Tony. I was just...on such a high, I guess. I mean, Bucky came back...I thought he was dead, but then he was _here_ . I saw him as damaged and vulnerable and I felt like it was my chance to protect him, to return the favor for all the times he had my back growing up. You were a good friend to me, though, and I shouldn’t have picked him over you. There shouldn’t have been a decision at all. If I’d been straight with you from the beginning about your parents, you wouldn’t have had to find out that way and we never should have fought like that. I probably would have reacted the same way as you. I lost control and I don’t expect you to forgive me for that, but I do hope you believe that I _am_ sorry. I care about you, Tony. I always have and that hasn’t changed.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive you, Steve.” Tony sighed, rubbing his hands down his face. “I...I don’t trust people, pretty much ever. I trusted you. And I’m not going to try to put on a strong face or whatever right now--I don’t know if I can get past Siberia. Every time I look at you, I see the way you looked at me. I thought...I thought you were going to kill me. Before that day, I used to have nightmares of you dying and I’d wake up and ask Friday if you were okay. Now I have nightmares of dying by your hand--and they aren’t going away. It’s been almost a year and I can’t sleep through the night.”

It was Steve’s turn to be quiet. There wasn’t much he could say, because for half a second, he thought he was going to kill Tony, too. He’d never lost control like that and it honestly terrified him.

“So, I appreciate that you came to apologize, but I don’t know if this is a relationship that can be saved.”

“Can we try?” Steve asked. “Can we work on it? If this whole time travel thing has made anything clear, it’s that we work better together than we do apart. I don’t want to try to reassemble the team without you. I want you to help me lead it. We should have been co-leaders before all of this, but I was being a control freak, as usual. I want your help.”

Tony looked at him for a moment, chewing on his lower lip the way he usually did while thinking about things, before standing up and walking over to another desk along the wall. He picked up the star shield and went back over to where Steve was sitting. He held it out to him and Steve looked at it for a moment, before shaking his head.

“Tony, I don’t know.” He said hesitantly.

“Why? He made it for you.” Tony insisted, pushing it forward so that Steve would take it. “Plus, that Sarah chick seems like she might have a screw loose and she obviously has some sort of vendetta against you judging by the way she's always glaring. You need it a lot more than my lab table does.”

“Thank you, Tony.”

“Will you keep that a little quiet?” Tony asked, referring to the shield in Steve’s hands. “Not giving one to the whole team.”

Steve smiled and nodded. He knew it would be a long road ahead, but this was a start.

 _“Sir, Sarah has called for a compound meeting in the living room in five minutes.”_ Friday announced.

“Thanks, Fri.” Tony told her. “Well, looks like we’re needed.”

***

“Okay, so now that everyone is here,” Sarah began, once the living room filled up. This time, the younger heroes stole the couch seats first, leaving the adults to sit in the chairs from the kitchen. “I have an announcement: We’re going to be doing Team Bonding Nights every other Friday.”

“This is what I stopped watching Shetland for?” Clint scoffed. “How old do you think we are?”

“Judging by your wrinkles, I’d say ballpark fifty.” Theo countered. “Am I close?”

“I’m twenty-nine, thanks.” Clint sneered back childishly.

“How many years have you been twenty-nine for?” Kate asked humorously. 

“This is bullying.” Clint accused.

“Team Bonding Nights will be fun.” Sarah pressed. “We can play games, watch movies, talk--whatever we want. It’s just a way to force us to hang out in our personal time. If we only socialize during work, we aren’t going to bond as well--and that will reflect on the battlefield.”

“The battlefield? What--are we going to war?” Sam asked.

“In a couple of years, yes.” Kate answered him flatly. “With aliens that wipe out over half of the _universe’s_ population and are the cause for several of your deaths.”

“Family Bonding Nights could be fun.” Wanda spoke up in approval. “I mean, it’s a night to relax and eat with people, instead of sitting in our rooms watching television alone. Am I wrong?”

“I agree. Sounds like a good idea, Sarah.” Steve said. “Should the first one be this Friday?”

“Yeah.” Sarah confirmed, glancing between Wanda and Steve. “Theo and I can figure out something to do this time. We can all take turns coming up with ideas. It’ll be fun!”

“Okay, so we all agree, then.” Harley said, standing up from the couch. “We can go now?”

“You’re in a hurry?” Sarah noticed.

“Not really. Just figured we were done.”

Theo looked at Harley skeptically, before turning her attention to her brother sitting beside her. He was purposefully looking everywhere around the room except in her direction.

“Peter, perché tu e Harley state provando a partire così in fretta?” Theo asked him. _[Peter, why are you and Harley trying to leave so fast?]_

“Eravamo impegnati…” Peter mumbled. _[We were busy…]_

“Stai cercando di lasciare l'incontro per fare sesso in questo momento?!” Theo accused, hitting him with one of the couch pillows. _[Are you trying to leave the meeting to have sex right now?!]_

Bucky and Tony suddenly burst out laughing at the extremely embarrassed seventeen-year-old, who was hiding his face in the pillow Theo had thrown at him. The adults turned to look at them, surprised.

“You understand them?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, they’re speaking Italian.” Tony confirmed. “Theo, let the poor guy go. We’ve all been there, Kid.”

Peter didn’t even wait for Theo’s response before he sprinted down the hall, followed by Harley.

“They’re so gross.” Theo grimaced.

“They’re teenage boys. Lasciali essere ragazzi, mia cara.” Tony waved her off. _[Let them be boys, my dear]_

Theo felt like the breath was knocked out of her when she heard him speak Italian and tears pooled in her eyes faster than she was able to get her emotions in check. She meant to say some sort of excuse to leave, but she couldn’t get any words out, so she just stood up and quickly escaped to her room. She shut her bedroom door and leaned back on it, slowly sliding down until she was seated on the floor with her knees against her chest, tears streaming down her face.

“What did you say to her?” Clint asked Tony, who was looking completely lost.

“He didn’t say anything bad.” Bucky defended. “He just told her to let them be boys.”

“You called her Mia Cara.” Morgan explained. “She hasn’t heard that in awhile. Our dads used to call her that. Before they died and we went to live with Logan, Italian was the main language in our house.”

“I’m gonna go check on her.” Francis excused himself, heading up the stairs. Once there, he knocked on her bedroom door. No response. “Theo, it’s me. I’m going to open the door in ten seconds, just as a heads up.”

He heard Theo shift on the other side of the door before it opened to reveal her standing there, brown red-rimmed eyes wet and her breathing unsteady.

“You okay?” He asked her. She shrugged and he stepped into the bedroom and pulled her into his arms. He felt her clutch his sides and bury her face in his chest and he fitted his chin over her head.

“He sounded so much... _so_ much like the dad I knew. I couldn’t…”

“I know.” He assured her. They stood there for a moment, before he pulled back and hooked his index finger under her chin to make her look up at him. “I have an idea, but we’ve gotta go up to the roof.”

“Francis, the ladder to the roof is out by the balcony over the living room. I don’t want everyone to see me all gross and red and snotty.” Theo said. Francis knew as well as she did that the only people who she ever let see her break down were him and Harley, since they’d been best friends for a while.

“Okay, I have a solution to that.” He said, a smile creeping onto his face and causing Theo to take a hesitant step backwards. He swiftly grabbed her, bent down, and then threw her over his shoulder, before standing up and looping his arm around her thigh over his chest.

“Francis!” She shrieked, grabbing fistfuls of his hoodie to stabilize herself as he shut the door and began walking down the hallway. “What are you doing?”

“That’s a dumb question for a genius, Theo. I’m solving your problem.” He told her.

They made it to the balcony that overlooked the living room and Francis gave the group of curious heroes a wave, before going to the wall that had the ladder up to the roof. He pulled them both up the ladder until they reached the hatch in the ceiling and Theo squirmed until she slid down the front of him and was able to hold onto the rungs.

“Don’t do that shit again, Barton. I thought you were going to kill us both.” She hissed under her breath, earning a playful smirk. She reached up and placed her hand on the hatch, overriding the safety protocols and willing it to slide open for them. 

"I wasn't going to drop you--you weigh nothing. You've got those tiny Stark genes."

They both climbed out into the cool breeze and Theo shut the hatch behind them.

“I brought these from the future.” Francis announced, fishing an opaque green vial and a lighter out of his pocket. She took the vial and squeezed it, causing the top to pop open and she dumped the joint into her hand.

“Son of a bitch.” Theo laughed, looking up at him. 

He took a seat on the edge of the roof, hanging his feet off the side, and she went over and joined him.

“Light it up, Stark, I’m ready to get faded. It’s been a crazy past few days.” He prompted. 

Her finger expertly slid across the sparkwheel and held the red button down, lighting the bright flame under the end of the joint. The paper glowed orange and she put the filter to her lips, inhaling to get the fire to climb up and burn the weed. After a few seconds, she set the lighter down and took a long drag, exhaling the smoke through her nose, before passing it to the boy beside her.

“You carried a joint around while we were being attacked by Sentinels and trying to figure out time travel?” She asked him as he took a hit.

He held the smoke in his chest for a bit, before letting it out and saying, “You complaining, Princess?”

“Not if you give it back to me.” She told him, holding her fingers out expectantly. 

“It’s weird, huh?” He asked, passing the joint. “Seeing our parents again, I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s really weird. It’s like they’re back, but not, because they have no idea who we are or what we’ve been through. No knowledge of our inside jokes or anything. Logically, I know they aren’t the same people--at least not yet--but it’s hard to remember sometimes when you look at them.”

“My dad gives off more childish vibes than Katie and I.” He chuckled. “Dad was always trying to get us to be serious--I never would’ve thought he would be a man-child like this before we came around. What a hypocrite.”

“How’s Kate doing? She seems off since we got here. Hell, how are you?”

“I keep thinking I hear Nathan, even though I know he's not here. It's weird.” He admitted, his eyebrows knitting together as he picked at his nails. “I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around the fact that...that he’s _gone_. And Kate won’t talk to me. Won’t even _look_ at me. I think she blames me for letting him go out there instead of forcing him to stay in the room to come back in time with us.”

“People had to hold off the Sentinels while we figured out the time travel ritual, and Nate volunteered. He’s part of the reason we were able to pull this off. Kate will come around and talk to you again--she probably just needs time. They were joined at the hip.”

“You suddenly know how people work, Stark?”

“Fuck no...but I do know her. She needs you, she’s just gotta remember that she does.”

“I guess.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Francis. You can’t blame yourself.” Theo comforted him, leaning into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and sighed.

“I’ll stop when you do.” 

“You’re deflecting.”

“And you aren’t?”

There was a silence for a few seconds as they stared each other down, until Theo gave in and looked away.

“Touche. Life is fucked, huh? Sometimes I wish I couldn’t feel anything.” 

“You can say that again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Italian parts are completely done through Google Translate, so they're probably super flawed. I'm sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> REQUESTS: if anyone wants to see specific things go down (games for team bonding nights, topics to talk about, silly or emotional situations you want to have addressed), let me know in the comments or my Tumblr (linked below)! This book is just as much for you guys as it is for me. I'll write what you want to see!
> 
> Kudos and/or comments make me super happy :3
> 
> If you want to support me even more, you could follow [My Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/marvel-obsessed-chick)


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